Failed to start vCenter services due Permission issue in /var/log/vmware/cloudvm/cloudvm-ram-size.log

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This is how to troubleshoot the wrong permission in /var/log/vmware/cloudvm/cloudvm-ram-size.log

Symptoms:

vCenter is down and gives you an error while trying to start it.

root@ussclpdadvcecs2 [ ~ ]# service-control --start --all
Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Performing start operation on service lwsmd...
Successfully started service lwsmd
Performing start operation on service vmafdd...
Successfully started service vmafdd
Performing start operation on service vmdird...
Successfully started service vmdird
Performing start operation on service vmcad...
Successfully started service vmcad
Performing start operation on service vmware-sts-idmd...
Successfully started service vmware-sts-idmd
Performing start operation on service vmware-stsd...
Successfully started service vmware-stsd
Performing start operation on service vmdnsd...
Successfully started service vmdnsd
Performing start operation on profile: ALL...
Successfully started service vmware-vmon

Service-control failed. Error: Failed to start services in profile ALL. RC=1, stderr=Failed to start eam, vsphere-client, vsphere-ui, vapi-endpoint, vpxd-svcs, vmware-postgres-archiver, vmware-vpostgres services. Error: Operation timed out

- you are unable to start the vpostgres service

service-control --start vmware-vpostgres

Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish...
Performing start operation on service vmware-vpostgres...
Error executing start on service vmware-vpostgres. Details {
"componentKey": null,
"resolution": null,
"problemId": null,
"detail": [
{
"localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vmware-vpostgres'",
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
"args": [
"vmware-vpostgres"
],
"translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"
}
]
}
Service-control failed. Error: {
"componentKey": null,
"resolution": null,
"problemId": null,
"detail": [
{
"localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vmware-vpostgres'",
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
"args": [
"vmware-vpostgres"
],
"translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"
}
]

While checking the vmon you can find the below errors

vmon.log

[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmon PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/vmware/cloudvm/cloudvm-ram-size.log'
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmon
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmon
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] Failed calculation of memory parameters
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] warning vmon
[YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS] err vmon <vmware-vpostgres> Service pre-start command failed with exit

Cause

The cloudvm directory has incorrect permissions and shows as below 

 # ls -ltrh /var/log/vmware/ | grep cloudvm
drwxrwsr-x     2     root     root    4.0K Dec     9         00:00 cloudvm

Resolution

To fix this issue, change the owner of the directory using the command below.
 

# chown root:cis cloudvm

// Correct permissions are as below.

# ls -ltrh /var/log/vmware/ | grep cloudvm
drwxrwsr-x     2     root     cis    4.0K Dec     9         00:00 cloudvm

 

Additional Information